Justice Department Challenged on ‘subversive’ Listing for Nazis

The Jewish Labor Committee disclosed today it had challenged the United States Department of Justice in its stand that the Subversive Activities Control Act applied only to Communist groups and therefore could not be applied to George Lincoln Rockwell and his so-called American Nazi Party.

The JLC cited correspondence with J. Walter Yeagley, Assistant U.S. Attorney General, who said the Government could not take action to halt the activities of Rockwell and his “storm-troopers” “unless there is evidence to establish a violation of a federal statute.” He also declared that the subversive control act “applies only to those Communist organizations which come within the definition” in that law.

Adolf Held, JLC chairman, replied that the act “gives latitude and procedures against any organization found to be subversive.” Mr. Held cited a long list of ultra-right wing organizations, such as the “so-called American Christian Nationalist Party,” which had been designated as subversive. He said that there were some 25 or more organizations imitating Nazi political patterns “which were declared Fascist organizations by previous attorney generals.”

The JLC leader argued that Executive Order 10450, which was used by former Attorney General Herbert Brownell to list such groups, or the subversive control act, should be applied to Rockwell and his group.